The concert was called Woodstock, but it actually took place near Bethel, New York, Aug. 15-19, 1969. It was billed as three days of peace and music.

An estimated crowd of 400,000 began to arrive two days before it started and the performances went across four days. It came at a time of anti-war demonstrations, the moon landing and the Manson Family murders.

It was a muddy, crowded, counterculture event, but could be the most famous concert in history. About 200,000 tickets were sold in advance. Admission was free on Friday.

Here’s a timeline of how it went down:

California connections

Woodstock had many California connections. Here are some of them:

Joan Baez was born in New York but graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1958.

Creedence Clearwater Revival originated in Contra Costa County.

Jefferson Airplane formed in San Francisco.

The Grateful Dead formed in Palo Alto.

Canned Heat formed in L.A.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young formed in L.A.

Sly & the Family Stone formed in San Francisco.

Country Joe and the Fish began in Berkeley.

Sweetwater originated in L.A.

Santana was born in Mexico but eventually moved to San Francisco and in October 1966, started the Santana Blues Band.

Hugh Romney (Wavy Gravy) grew up on the East coast but he was living in a commune in California when he was invited to handle security at Woodstock.

The poster for the festival was designed by artist Arnold Skolnick.

What they made

Some careers were made by performing at Woodstock, being in the 1970 film or on the album. According to Ultimate Guitar, Jimi Hendrix was the highest-paid artist. Hendrix received $18,000, which is about $125,000 in 2019 money.

Kurt Snibbe is a visual journalist for Southern California News Group. Snibbe has won several medals in international graphics competitions and was a staff cartoonist for ESPN.com. Snibbe began with The Orange County Register in 1997, left in 2008 and returned in 2013.

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